The
companies that made or marketed the drug argue that no firm link has been established between breast cancer and DES, a synthetic estrogen that was prescribed to millions of women from the 1930s to 1970s to prevent miscarriage, premature births, and other problems.

It was pulled from the market after being linked to a rare vaginal cancer in women whose mothers used DES. And studies showed the drug did not prevent miscarriages.

Eli Lilly say in court documents that there is no evidence the women’s mother
took DES. She and her doctor are dead, and Eli Lilly says there are no medical records documenting her treatment.